H.S. SOFTBALL: Bridgewater-Raynham wins EMass., and heads to state final

Thursday

Jun 12, 2014 at 1:37 AMJun 12, 2014 at 7:55 AM

The Trojans come from behind to beat Revere, 3-1, at Lowell.

Chris McDaniel cmcdaniel@wickedlocal.com @ChrisMcDaniel88

LOWELL – On Wednesday night, the Bridgewater-Raynham High softball team was in desperate need of an offensive spark. Enter Emily Kurkul.

The Trojans were trailing Revere, 1-0, in the bottom of the fourth inning of the Division 1 Eastern Mass. final and state semifinal when the junior catcher led off the inning with a double to center field, sparking a three-run rally en route to a 3-1 B-R win at Martin Field in Lowell.

“It was like a new battery was put in,” said B-R junior pitcher Sarah Dawson of Kurkul’s hit. “Emily (has been) able to do that for our team time and time again. She’s such an instrumental part of our team for doing that. Without that, I think our energy would have been a little bit lower.”

Jenny Heller and Stephanie Cavallaro followed the double by drawing walks to load the bases. Junior Sophie Perez brought home Taylor Poulin, who had pinch-run for Kurkul, with a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the score.

“I was just looking for my pitch, trying to get a single, just trying to get on,” said Kurkul. “One hit gets all the hits going. It got us the little spark that we needed.”

Senior Holly Greet drew a two-out walk to load the bases. On a wild pitch, Heller broke for the plate and looked like she was caught, but Revere’s catcher tossed the ball over pitcher Sabrina Palermo’s head, allowing Heller to score. Cavallaro didn’t hesitate on the error, scoring from second by just beating Palermo’s tag with a slide at the plate.

“You’ve got to be patient, you’ve got to let the game come to you,” said B-R coach Mike Carrozza of the fourth inning, in which the Trojans walked three times. “I think the second time or third time around, I think the girls started really being more patient at the plate.

“The ball skipped through, we scored the run. Their defense wasn’t expecting us to keep running and Cavallaro came across.

“The bottom line was we just needed somebody to get the thing ignited and Emily got it going.”

Carrozza, the varsity coach at B-R for the past 17 years, relished the fact that the win earned the Trojans their first trip to the state final.

“It’s excellent, it’s a great feeling,” said Carrozza. “It’s a great feeling for redemption for two years ago when we were here playing Malden (in the 2012 Division 1 state semifinals). We had a 4-0 lead and we ended up losing, 5-4.

“This game here, the girls were not going to leave that door open. We made sure that door stayed closed.”

Said Kurkul: “It’s what we’ve been working for all season, so let’s go get it.’’

The win wasn’t easy, as the Trojans (24-1) had to erase their first deficit of the tournament after back-to-back hits by Revere’s Julia Cecere and Kristina Stella put B-R in a 1-0 hole in the top of the first inning.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, it’s an Eastern Mass. title,” said Dawson. “Everybody’s out here to play and we’re playing to win.”

After allowing her first run of the tournament, Dawson responded by retiring 18 of the final 21 batters. Dawson finished the night with nine strikeouts. She walked one and scattered four hits.

Revere (20-6, No. 10 seed from the North) threatened with runners on base in each of the final three innings. Their best chance came in the top of the sixth inning when Ally Hinojosa belted a triple to left field with one out, but Dawson got out of the jam with a fly-out and strikeout.

Dawson struck out five batters in the final two innings.

“I just wanted to end it,” said Dawson of her strikeout-filled effort. “I just wanted to end the game, wanted to get to Saturday.”

B-R seemed primed to break the game open in the bottom of the fifth inning. Madi Shaw led off the frame by belting an opposite-field double down the line that one-hopped the left-field fence. Shaw advanced to third on a Stacey Korotsky sacrifice bunt, and a walk to Kurkul put runners on the corners, but B-R couldn’t bring across a run.

Kurkul (1-for-2, walk), Cavallaro (1-for-2, walk) and Greet (1-for-2, walk) were the only Trojans to reach base twice. Nicole McSweeney had one of the Trojans’ five hits.

The Trojans will play Central Mass. champion Holy Name (22-2) in the state final on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Worcester State.

Holy Name defeated previously undefeated Westfield, 6-1, on Wednesday night in the other semifinal.

Chris McDaniel can be reached at CMcDaniel@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisMcDaniel88.